


There's A Curse Between Us (Between Me And You)

by Lilsciencequeen



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Episode: s04e15 Self Control, F/M, a somewhat hopeful ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 08:59:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11181402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilsciencequeen/pseuds/Lilsciencequeen
Summary: "Promise me," she whispered. "Promise."He nodded. "I promise."// What if Fitz wasn't the LMD in 4x15?





	There's A Curse Between Us (Between Me And You)

“The knife,” she demanded through her tears. She gestured at it with her gun. “Use it.”

“How?” he asked, arms still raised in the air, showing her that he meant no harm. Because he couldn’t hurt her. He could never hurt her. “How Jemma?”

She paused for a moment. “Slice your palm. If there’s wires…”

“Then I’m the LMD,” he whispered back, nodding, accepting what she was saying. “But if I’m not…”

“Then it’s me,” she replied. She swallowed hard, holding back another sob. “I’m the LMD.”

He sighed and reached over, taking the knife in his hand, then sliced his palm. He winced as the metal cut into his skin, a trail of crimson following it. Once he had made a deep enough cut, he dropped the knife and raised his bloodied palm, showing Jemma had he meant no harm, and also showing her his injury.

She took a step forward, not once lowering her weapon, she couldn’t. It was too much of a risk. Once she was close enough, she grabbed his wrist with one hand and stared at it. She frowned, examining it. She then set the gun down on the work bench, she had to. There was no risk. He wasn’t the danger. She trailed her fingers across the cut, smearing the blood on his palm and across her fingertips. It was just flesh and blood.

“No,” she whispered, backing away. “No. No no no no…” The two-letter word seemed to be the only word that she could manage as she stumbled backwards, all other words failing her as the realisation of what was happening finally sunk in, as the realisation of _what_ she was sunk in.

“Jems,” he whispered, hoping that what had just happened wasn’t true. It was her who was the LMD, not him. AIDA, Radcliffe, they had swapped her out for a LMD and she didn’t even know. It was like May. She didn’t know she had been swapped out. She didn’t even know what she was. “It might not be true…” the words he said weren’t convincing, not even to him and he didn’t even know why he was saying it. Maybe because saying it aloud would help him to deny the truth. A truth that he wasn’t ready to face, a truth that he _couldn’t_ face. “The scanner, it might not be working… it might have made a mistake.”

She shook her head, cheeks tear stained. “It isn’t… it can’t be… You made it Fitz. _You_ made it. Of course it has to be working. It’s me… I’m the LMD.” She reached over, and took the screwdriver that was sitting on the counter that was closest to her. She ran the tip over her own palm, cutting into herself and a small trickle of blood followed it, and showed a metal plate and wires hidden underneath the skin. She showed it to Fitz. “It’s me,” she whispered. “It’s me.”

“Jemma,” Fitz whispered, taking a step forward, not wanting to upset Jemma any further than she already was. No, it wasn’t Jemma. It was a false imitation of her, a robot with her face and her thoughts. It wasn’t his Jemma. The Jemma he had known since he was sixteen, the Jemma he had fallen in love with, the Jemma he had crossed the Universe for, twice. The Jemma who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

“It’s me,” she whispered and her face contorted into a mask of anger and she reached forward, screaming out and pushed everything of the counter, the metal crashing to the ground with an ear shattering noise. “It’s me.”

She collapsed to the ground, leaning against the counter and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. Tears stained her face. “I just…” she began, not knowing where to go next.

Fitz took another step close to her, his palm still stinging, sticky with blood. “I’m sorry,” he said, his tone pathetic. He was at a loss for words.

She shook her head.  “You’re going to have to deactivate me.”

“What? No.”

“You _have_ to,” she begged. “AIDA, Radcliffe, they probably programmed me like this for a reason, they probably have a plan for me, and I can’t… I can’t let myself do that. What if it’s to hurt you? What if it’s to kill you? I… Jemma would never be okay if you got hurt, if you were killed. And this here, it isn’t a life, Fitz. I don’t have free will, emotions, anything… I don’t want to live like this. This isn’t a life. So please, please, deactivate me… before anything happens.”

He nodded, dropping his head, knowing he had no choice and reached for the tablet. Together, with the LMD, it only took him ten minutes to get the program working that would deactivate her, it. Whatever.

But he found himself hesitant to start the programming. Despite knowing that this wasn’t Jemma, that it was simply a LMD, a robot that bore her with some programming that mimicked her thoughts, he found it hard to deactivate it. His hand trembled, hanging above the screen.

“It’s okay, you have to do this. I understand. Just… just promise me one thing.” She had sunk back to the ground, hiding in a corner, not wanting to be near him. She couldn’t trust herself. She was losing herself already, fragments of her real self, her true identity breaking through the façade that AIDA and Radcliffe had implemented. She was learning her true goals, her true objectives and she couldn’t… she _couldn’t_ hurt Fitz like that. She refused to let them win.  

“What?” he asked, looking up from the tablet, staring over at her in the corner. She, no _it,_ looked so small, scared. Terrified even but there was something in its eyes, as if it were imagining something.

It met his eyes and a smiled flashed across its face. “Promise me you’ll keep her safe. Take care of her. Move to Perthshire, settle down. Get married. Have children. Jemma, she wants that. She wants to spend the rest of her life with you. She loves you, she loves you _so_ much Fitz. Don’t let…” It closed its eyes and shook her head, a soft laugh coming from the LMD as it accessed the memory. “Don’t let the cosmos separate you again.”

He smiled at the LMD of Jemma, a sadness in his eyes. “I promise.” And taking a breath, he reached down, tapping the screen and activating the program. It took only seconds but the LMD deactivated, the eyes going dead and cold, its head dipping down.

He swallowed hard, setting the tablet down and taking shaking his breath, wiping away at the tears that he had held back for so long, the fabric of the makeshift bandage on his hand scratching at his face.

Jemma, Jemma was gone, taken by AIDA and Radcliffe for some reason that was yet unknown to him, along with other members of his team. He had to find them, had to find _her_ and he couldn’t do that alone. He needed to find someone, anyone who was human, who would be able to help him.

And he knew just the people.

Casting one last glance at the LMD, a hollow shell in the corner, he grabbed the gun that it had left on the counter, checking that it had bullets in it, and headed out of the room, attempting to find a way to leave base and find help.

To find his team.

To find Jemma.

**Author's Note:**

> Because I love my AU angst. Title from What Have You Done by Within Temptation. Thanks for checking out, hope you enjoyed, feel free to leave a comment, they always make me smile.


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